


A Caring Hand

by Puddle_Pop



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Babies!, Bad Parenting, Child Abuse, Childhood Trauma, Children, Gen, M/M, PTSD, a lot of characters come in later chapters, divorce themes, heads up a lot of ships aren't an actual thing just the ship kids, learning parents, motherly panic, parenting his hard, ship kids trying to finding their place in the world, slow healing, they'er trying their hardest, violance, with that
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-13
Updated: 2020-07-26
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:01:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 15,869
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23622808
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Puddle_Pop/pseuds/Puddle_Pop
Summary: In a time of peace in the Multiverse Ink catches a strange flu and things start to change for the worst.
Relationships: Blue/Dust, Blue/Ink, Dream/Ink, Error/Nightmare, Error/Outer, Ink/Error, Ink/Fresh, killer/outer, repaer/geno
Comments: 65
Kudos: 86





	1. A Single Sneeze

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first fanfiction I have written in a while. it ain't the best but hey, it was fun to write!  
> I own none of these characters and I'll be putting the owners of each character at the bottom of each chapter. if a creator sees one of their characters in this and doesn't wish for them to be here let me know! ill try to remove them!

Things were peaceful. Actually, really peaceful. The multiverse hadn’t seen such calm in almost ten years, if Inks’ clock was counting right. He had made a truce with Error; for every world he helped create, Error got to destroy another. It seemed almost unfair as he could destroy any world he pleased, yet Error always chose much smaller universes and Ink was fine with that. In their spare time, which was a lot now, Ink would visit Error and just relax. Ink was fascinated by the grumpy skeletons’ calm side and really got to know him.

They would watch Undernovela, chat and relax with each other. Ink would keep his distance and keep it clean, drawing on notebooks and bringing his own things for entertainment, while Error would sit on his strange bean bag couch or lay up in his strings like a nesting spider. The time between each other grew warmer, and even Error had begun to relax around the guardian. It was nice to have someone who understood Inks’ struggle of not truly belonging to one world anymore.

Ink went to the Anti-void after his usual check-ups. He chose not to visit Dream or Blue that day, so he got back earlier than normal. He whistled a dumb tune he made up as he went, and although it held no rhythm, it sounded happy enough. Ink entered the Anti-void right next to Errors’ bean couch that sat empty, a defined butt mark that probably took years of working on that Ink didn’t want to ruin. So, he sat on the floor and hummed looking around for where said angry skeleton might be.

‘Where is that grumpy bones?’ Ink wondered, letting his gaze follow up to the mess of blue strings where different coloured souls scattered through Inks’ vision. Each soul was tied up, the strings holding them together preventing them from shattering. Looking further, he could spot Errors’ hammock and scattered items. From food to spare clothes, but no napping skeleton.

Letting out a sigh, Ink laid back staring at the different strings and trying to trace them from start to finish, noticing times he found along the way. He couldn’t help but wonder. ‘How long Error had sat here making this? Did it hurt? Just more questions to bug Error with later I guess,’ Ink thought, chuckling as he closed his eyes, relaxing. He didn’t like the white of the Anti-void, so he always looked up at the blue strings and colored souls. No matter how much displeasure seeing them gave Ink, it was always better than the white slate that was the Anti-void.

“Ah… AHHH… CHOO!” Ink let out a loud sneeze, sitting up a shiver ran through his body and he was left with nothing but a sluggish feeling. He must have caught a cold in Snowdin, yet he hadn’t managed to shake it off all week. Letting out a groan, Ink flopped back down. He hadn’t really seen anyone about the cold since he had never really… ever, gotten sick before; Well that he could recall. He wasn’t even sure about where he could even go, so he just stuck it out.

“What are you doing here, Ink?” Errors’ glitched voice seemed to echo through Inks’ skull for a moment, alarming him of that fact that he had zoned out. Ink opened his eyes not even realizing he had closed them, and sat back up, watching Error plop back into the couch with a sigh, as if he hadn’t been home in days.

“Where were you?” Ink asked, noting the dirt on his clothes and tired bones, and even a new rip on the shoulder of his hoodie. Error held up a firm hand to make sure Ink said nothing more.

“I asked first.” Error didn’t even look over at him. He waved his held-up hand and the strings that dangled above shifted. Some tightened, some loosened, but the creaks of the strings stretching echoed through the Anti-void, and a small pin cushion fell into Errors’ hand.

“Oh, you know, the usual. I finished my rounds early and I figured we could chat. I’ve had an idea for something you might like- hey, I’ve been meaning to ask, does that hurt?” Ink completely forgot the first subject, watching Error pull a blue string from his eye and thread it through a needle.

“For the 5 th time, no.” Error huffed, biting the needle while he took off his jacket. He waved his hand again while he searched for the tear, and his glasses fell in his lap.

“Wow, we’re on five now?” Ink let out a chuckle. He didn’t see his memory as an issue, even as much as it annoyed people. He watched Error put on his glasses, examining the tear as he grumbled something before taking the needle from between his teeth.

“Yep, we’re almost at a new record.” He huffed, sarcasm firm on his metaphorical tongue. He started stitching away, his hands slow, but without any signs of hesitation or shakiness. It was rather impressive.

“What’s the high score?” Ink wondered, leaning his side on the bean couch, watching in amazement as Error used his threads for something passive. Now that Error was here, Ink felt more relaxed and even calmer in the white space. He couldn’t help but let out a sigh.

“You’ve asked to paint the Anti-void 8 times.” Error huffed, he too relaxing into his bean couch. The only noise present was the sound of fabric shuffling, and the soft breaths coming from each other.

“Well,  _ can  _ I?” Ink asked, only half-joking as he looked up at the other skeleton that was glaring at him.

“That makes 9.” Error growled, going back to his work, now half-way through the tear. He was making sure the stitch wasn’t visible and wouldn’t fall apart, so he took care in his work.

“Newwwww record!” Ink chuckled, cheering to himself as he pulled out his sketchbook and some inktense pencils, starting to sketch out the ceiling above. Now the roof looked different, since Error moved the strings around. It was always fun to draw, as it always looked new and was always shifting. At least  _ something  _ here changes…

Ink drew, humming a tune he heard from some movie Dream had shown him on their usual movie nights. After a while, the quiet got to him and he spoke up again. “What do your strings feel like? Are they soft or scratchy? How strong actually are they?” Sure, they fought a lot, but the adrenaline was always pumping, so he never had time to notice.

“Stop talking.” Error muttered. He had been watching Undernovela, now ignoring Inks' presence.

Ink sat up on his knees, putting his book to the side and looked at Error, getting the skeletons attention. “I’m just curious, Error. I’m not asking much.” He tried to insist, crawling over in front of the one-sided portal, now blocking the black skeletons’ view. Error growled, leaning to the sides, trying to look around Ink. Though Ink was the smaller in stature, he did have a giant paintbrush on his back.

“Move.” Errors’ voice became more distorted with anger in his voice. Ink didn’t budge, his eye lights shifting to a target and star. He was determined, and the grin only pissed Error off more.

“Not till you let me feel your strings!” When spoken out loud, his request was stupid and childish. But Ink had his mindset- and when he focused on something, there was no stopping him.

Error glared at him, sitting up “Fine!” he started pulling a string from his eye and stopped at a decent length. Taking the two ends, he tied them together into a large loop and dropped it to his side where Ink originally sat. “Here, go play those old string games like Cat’s Cradle or whatever.”

Ink proudly moved back, happily shuffling on his knees, moving out of the way until he was back to Errors’ side, along with his sketchbook. Ink chose to pack up his mess before he did anything with the string. He knew Error would throw a fit over the mess if he forgot.

Once he got his mess cleaned, pencils away, sketchbook in his lap, he picked up the string with childish excitement. That quickly changed however, as Ink felt a cold and a sharp slither of pain run through his bones like electricity. It was enough to make the small skeleton groan, curling up, and clenching the string in his hand for something to be a stress relief.

“What the fuck!?” Errors’ voice rang through his head like a booming echo. Even the string creaks which normally went almost unheard seemed to get under Inks’ skin. He curled up, pressing his skull to the ground, staying in a ball once the pain spread to his whole body. It seemed to settle down slowly, leaving. The fading pain allowed Ink to finally breathe through his gritted teeth, and try to pull himself together.

“The fuck is wrong with you?” Error spoke up, his voice no longer seeming to ring in Inks’ head, so the trembling skeleton let himself calm down. With Errors’ tone, it was hard to tell if it was an insult, or if he was genuinely worried. Giving the benefit of the doubt, Ink pushed himself up and smiled over his shoulder at the spooked skeleton who was a good 8 feet away, staring at Ink like he had just grown a second head and it was throwing up rainbows.

“It’s nothing Error. It’s just a cold.” He reassured, as his body blessed him with a sneeze to prove a point. However, Errors’ face darkened like that second head from before was now trying to kill the original.

“That’s… That’s not a cold...” His voice was grim, he looked around thinking. His hands became fidgety, his body glitching and as a result, he quickly fled the Anti-void before Ink could attempt to pull himself off his knees.

“Error! Come back please, I’m fine!” He tried to convince the other, but the fellow skeleton was gone, and the only comfort he had now was the white of the Anti-void. Ink groaned, pulling himself to his feet and dropping the string. He opened his own portal to search for his friend.

Ink checked the usual worlds Error was found in. Outertale, Candytale, Underfell. When he found no luck in their worlds and timelines, he started looking through every world in the multiverse; and believe me, that took a while. He would check the Anti-void every few hours, but nothing. Error had completely disappeared from Inks’ radar. Ink avoided asking Dream for help, since Dream didn’t know the terms of the deal and wouldn’t be too thrilled to find out that A., he has been spending weeks with Error and B. He was sick and it was enough to scare Error away.

So, Ink searched alone. After a while, he almost forgot why he was searching, as tiredness started to weigh him down. So he decided to return home. Home, was in a broken timeline that had no start, no finish and would rain a colour every few days that Ink would collect in a bucket. The place was filled with all sorts of strange and colourful things, almost nothing was left white. Ink ignored the eyesores that were his home, and walked right into his house.

He didn’t have a brother. Well... not any that he knew of that wasn’t a sketch, so he turned what was normally Papyrus’ room into a studio. That didn’t stop him from drawing in and on everything in the house. Ink walked over scrap papers as he moped up the stairs, groaning at the long walk. Once in his room, he slipped most of his clothes till in nothing but overalls and a shirt, kicking the rest of his attire into a pile. He set Broomie and his paints down on a stand before flopping onto the bed. He didn’t have to even worry about being cold; his ‘Snowdin didn’t even have snow. It was perfect weather to run around and play in. The warm air and soft mattress lulled the tried skeleton right to sleep.

When Ink awoke, he had no recollection of yesterday’s events. He was in such a fuss at the time he didn’t even think to write it down, didn’t think he needed to. So, Ink got up, pulled on some fresh clothes, grabbed Broomie and his paints, making a dash out the door and dive right into an ink portal to the Doodle-sphere. He sat there for a bit, looking over the different worlds, checking for any issues. Nightmare and his gang got a lot easier to handle after Cross disappeared and the truce was made, so nothing seemed wrong or out of place.

Satisfied with his checkup, Ink decided this was the perfect excuse to visit that grumpy black skeleton in his Anti-void nest. Maybe today, Error would let him paint something for him? Maybe he could tell Error about his ideas to bring some video games into the Anti-void too.

Ink was practically bubbling with excitement as he opened the portal to the white space, making sure to keep his question clear in his mind. “Hey Error!” he yelled at the top of his lungs, but as soon as he set foot in the Anti-void, he froze. Memories came flooding back from yesterday, Error leaving, his sudden pains, it all came back in seconds as he noticed the Anti-void was blessed with a new sound.

Wails, they picked up rapidly and almost echoed through the empty void of white. Inks’ yelling disrupted something behind the bean couch, and it was loud. “Hello?” Ink asked, slowly walking around the dirty old bean couch and looked over to find a splatter of dark blue almost black goo. It was as dense as ink, but it wiggled and bubbled as the wails settled just a little when the skeleton walked over

“What the actual fuck...” Ink muttered to himself, squatting down to examine the bubbling, wailing goo. He watched as some parts changed colour before fading back into black. He couldn’t help his curiosity, and slowly, shuffled closer, moving a finger over to poke and feel the bubbling black slime. He hesitated, his hand hovering over it, and the wails softened and the goo started to bubble into a boil.

As if a zombie rising from the grave, a small hand grabbed onto Inks’ finger, hardly able to wrap the small hands around his proximal phalanges.

“My stars…” he mumbled, watching the bubblegum pink fingers try to grip Inks’ hand as the wails soothed into whimpers and hiccups. Ink examined the yellow phalange tips of the little hand, before noticing the goo that the hand came from was changing shape. Watching the goo pile up on top of itself, it changed colours and was now taking shape.

There, holding Inks’ pointer finger, sat a small black inky skeleton baby. They seemed hardly able to hold themselves together but stared at Ink with fat yellow tears hugging the corners of their eyes. Ink felt frozen, staring into the child’s sockets. The eyes were far too similar to be coincidence. The left eye-light was a thin white dot while the other was multicolored, there was a blue pupil with a yellow eye iris, the shape of an hourglass. The… child, stared at Ink with a curious gaze. The small black skeleton had no idea what their existence truly meant to Ink.

Ink felt pale and almost sick for a moment. He knew what this was, and it wasn’t good. It was… some way, somehow a fusion of himself and Error.

“Oh stars, oh no. What am I going to do with you?” He was fascinated but panicked by the child that started playing with Inks’ hand. He used his free hand to pull out a small paintbrush, quickly painting up a blanket to wrap the naked skeleton baby in. They may not have privates, but it was still considered common decency after all.

With the small skel-ink-ton in his arms, he looked around at the white Anti-void for any sign or clue of what to do. Where they came from, or where Error may be.


	2. The Things We Do

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With a new bundle of life in his arms Ink needs to figure out, how do you even raise a child?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 2 already yay! this is a long processes to write and edit but its all in good fun! if you like it please let me know what you think!

The wails started up again pretty quickly. The baby screamed and fussed, turning into goo in the older skeletons’ arms. Though luckily, none of it stained, strange as it sounds. Ink struggled to hold the bundle of wailing goo as he wandered through the Anti-void, calling Errors’ name. Seeing white for so long was starting to get to him, as was a headache.

Now carrying the blanket like a sack of water, he left for the Doodle-sphere, staring at the different worlds. This kid was probably hungry, right? Where could he get some baby food? Ink found Kindertale and stared at it. What was he going to do? He wasn’t allowed to be seen, so the kid couldn’t come with him, but he most definitely couldn’t leave them alone in the Doodle-sphere. Ink groaned out. His head pulsing horribly from all the crying, it was not helping his cold.

He took the bundle of bubbling unhappy slime to his universe and got to work making some sort of baby pen to leave him in quickly. He just needed to do this as fast as possible. He needed some sort of formula, as making food out of ink was a risky task. It was best to just steal for now, till he knew what he was doing. And who really knew how hungry this little paint splat was?

Once he made the pen, he laid down the blanket letting it fall open revealing the slime child. Now with freedom to move, it spread out claiming the space that was available and quietened down again. The goo materialized and the child poked out exploring all the sights, sounds and smells.

Ink laughed watching this. “Far better than the Anti-void huh kid?” He wasn’t worried about all the papers inside as they were only mindless drawings. Ink tossed in some old pencils for the bundle to entertain themselves with, and made his way out before they could start crying again.

He looked through the Kindertale, Littletale and even Babytale worlds for the easiest opportunity to grab a bottle of milk from. He chose one where the brothers were being taken care of Grillby. The brothers were at a troublesome age of crawling and waddling everywhere. This was not going to be easy, but this was the best shot he had, and he did not want to run into a Gaster.

The next problem was getting inside. Grillby was smart enough not to leave spills or water running, so Ink had to break in. He let out a loud groan, leaping through the portal that led out back of Grillby’s bar. Looking at the back-door, Ink sucked in a breath building himself up ignoring the trash water he came from. Checking the lock, he listened for any signs of life. There were no sounds of someone at the grill, even the bar sounded quiet. He must have come on Grillby’s day off.

Ink made a key, letting himself in and peeked through the door. The kitchen was spotless, things packed up neat and tidy, definitely a day off. Taking a step inside he glanced around for anyone. Not even a mouse or a bug should know he was here. With the cost clear for now, he closed the door with a subtle click. Maybe if he was in luck, Gillby was out shopping with the kids.

After a long deep breath, he headed through the kitchen to the stairs and slowly made his way up. With every creak, he would freeze and slowly step over. At this point, he was just raising the tension for himself. Finally at the top, he was then greeted with a baby gate that went up around his upper hips. With a lot of fiddling and trying not to make a noise, he was defeated and ended up just climbing over, which was much easier, though that must have made him look like an idiot.

Now Ink stood in the apartment space. The kitchen and lounge room were connected, and two rooms sat off to the side where a lot of giggles and soft squealing came from behind one. Ink paled a little but shook it off creeping through the room. He had to be careful of every little toy on the ground as if he was walking through a minefield. Once in the kitchen, the toys were almost completely gone except for a stuffed toy or two kicked to the side.

Ink sighed, checking the fridge, but there was nothing besides small pouches of veggies and cold dinosaur nuggets. Not a single bottle of formula. He dug through the drawers of different utensil’s finding bowls and cutlery before taking out a light blue baby bottle from the back and pocketed it. Next, Ink went to the cupboard where he found the biggest tin can he had ever seen. Sitting on the kitchen bench he started to read it with curious fascination.

“Wait… Formula is in a can?” Ink asked puzzled after reading the label and looking over the image. He opened it up, looking at the powder inside in complete confusion. He even went as far as to sniff it. He couldn’t steal this, it was the only one Grillby had that wasn’t fair. Maybe he could buy some? But where do you buy this stuff? Is it a supermarket thing or a baby store thing?

“boo!!” Ink jumped almost dropping the open can on the small toddler that stared at him holding his leg with a proud smile. Sans was in pajamas and holding onto Ink to keep his balance as he bounced up and down proud of his jump-scare.

“Aw, hey Sans.” He laughed a little at his own fear. He reached a hand down almost patting the little skeletons’ head, but he froze. The realization of the situation dawned on him.

Ink dropped the can on the poor toddler, covering Sans and himself in milk powder. Ink ran for his life to get out of the house with the old bottle in his pocket. Sans broke out in wails as Ink jumped the gate, booking it down the stairs. He could hear a door slam open and running upstairs as he skidded out the back door, right into a portal. Then with a blink of an eye, he was back in the Doodle-sphere.

Ink let out a long sigh, relaxing. He prayed to any form of god that Sans would forget that ever happened. That could have gone better, but he learned some new things and got a bottle for the bundle at home. Feeling pretty proud of his achievement, he opened a fresh notebook, smiling, and wrote. ‘note. Baby formula is a powder kept in big cans. Instructions are on the side.’ He knew he was going to forget, so it was best to note it down. Now that he had that down, he just had to get a can for himself.

With a final relaxed sigh, Ink went to Kindertales’ new home. He came out in an alleyway and wrapped his scarf around his skull. Lots of different monsters roamed the streets with kids that ran about. Many were still adapting to the change of the underground. Ink wandered around, asking a few people if they knew where the grocery store was, and luckily didn’t have to worry about getting caught like this. After a longer walk than it should have been, he found the store.

After a nice hello from the store owner, he strolled the shop as casually as possible, though they always asked if he needed help. He wandered through every corner of the store at least twice before he found it. He brought a can of infant baby formula to the counter with a proud march. Putting down the tin of formula, he pulled out gold pieces, humming. Sure, they were painted, but that didn’t mean it doesn’t count. Money was money.

“You getting this for your younger sibling?” The sweet old monster behind the counter asked, counting the gold handed to her. Ink was still the height of an average teen, although Ink was, in fact, a 30-year-old man, and was still yet to get used to these remarks.

“For my kid, actually” Ink clarified in an annoyed tone ignoring the shocked look given in return. He listened to the old monster apologize repeatedly as she handed Ink the can. Once more, the poor Monster lady apologized for the last time, and Ink chuckled as he looked up at her. “It’s ok. It happens a lot, I think.” He knew she meant well, and he would forget in a few minutes, so it was water under the bridge.

With the formula retrieved, he returned home to the wailing baby that laid in the mess of ripped and ink-stained paper. Letting out a sigh, Ink ignored the poor thing to begin reading the can “I know I know, I’m getting you some food now,” he told the crying baby as he walked to the kitchen and followed the instructions. He warmed it up, he remembered hearing that warm milk helped put babies to sleep, with this screaming he hoped it was true. With the headache from all this crying, he could use a nap too.

Bringing the warm milk over he was shaking the bottle up making sure it was all mixed in. He sat by the goo holding the bottle just above it. “Come on… I know you're hungry.” He teased softly, tilting the bottle showing the content inside. Ink got a quick response. The goo rapidly took the shape of the skeleton baby, and they started drinking right away.

Ink laughed, scooping the little guy up. “You need a name, don’t you?” He asked, sitting on the couch, the baby snug in his arms still drinking. Ink hummed, looking at the little inkling then the mess that was the playpen. He couldn’t help but laugh, it looked like a printer blew up in there.

“Spilled ink?” He offered the name to the child who stared at him with a bored look, more focused on the bottle. “That’s definitely a no.” He laughed at the child’s sudden sass as they drank. Ink did have to pull it away every now and then, so they didn’t make themselves sick.

“Maybe…” He couldn’t help staring at the chaos that was the pen. “Paperjam?” the baby in his arms had finished drinking, and let out a loud burp with a pleased smile.

Ink laughed at that reaction. “Alright, Paperjam it is. Oh! That means I can call you Jammy for short! Or Paper… how about PJ?” The baby wiggled about with a pouty face, clearly upset that there was nothing more to drink.

Laughing, Ink sat the bottle down and held Paperjam in one arm while he removed his brush and paints with his free hand. Settling into the couch, Paperjam also seemed to relax in the touch, yawning and setting in for a nap. Ink grinned, though he could not feel the joy a baby brought, he did know he liked this. Something new, something without a story that deserved to live. With these thoughts fresh in the skeletons’ mind, he let himself drift off to sleep.

He was awoken again by crying and the feeling of small hands beating on his ribs. He chuckled, sitting up and holding Pj under the butt. “Hungry already, huh?” He yawned, getting up, taking the bottle with his other hand and used his arm to support Paperjams’ back, carrying them to the kitchen.

It was difficult to read the tin cans’ instruction while being kicked in the ribs by a wailing child, but he managed well enough. After some juggling, he finally put the artificial milk to the baby’s mouth, and they calmed down instantly. Ink giggled, still finding the quick response amusing and walked back “At least you’re cute, Paper.”

With a plop, he was back on the couch watching Paperjam drink down the milk with a relaxed look. Once finished, he set the bottle aside and sat PJ in his lap where he started measuring how tall and wide the baby skeleton was. The bundle of sass wiggled about, trying to sit up on their own. Any time Ink let go, they would flop over and start to cry. Ink would sit them up every time before they could though, luckily.

Giving Paperjam a piece of paper to play with, Ink used his legs to keep them upright. He started painting them some clothes, it was going to be just a pink onesie with two blue stripes over the belly, you’re not a kid without them after all. The next battle was getting it on the little fella.

Ink stared down a Paperjam who was eating the now black stained paper while watching the tired Ink. Unzipping the onesie, he leaned Paper back. But sweet baby Jammy wasn’t having it; they kicked and squirmed while Ink held one of his legs to push it through. Fussing turned to wailed screams as their limbs turned to goo in Inks’ hand.

Ink managed to get both legs in, watching the feet of the fabric stain black before changing to a light yellow. Ignoring the wails and fusses, he pulled on the onesie properly and Paper settled down once Ink left them alone. With a sigh, he sat Paper up against a pillow and leaned over to take a sip of yellow paint. His energy came bubbling back to life once again with a single sip.

Looking over at Jammy who was trying to eat the ruined paper, he nodded to himself. Next, Paperjam needed toys, lots of colourful toys! Ink started painting away making all sorts of things. Pacifiers, building blocks teething rings- all sorts of things that he remembered seeing in Grillby’s apartment. He started to notice Paperjam watching in awe as the Ink that didn’t solidify on his skull was starting to change shape to attempt to copy.

When Ink made a block, Paperjam would copy, making a square. Star pillow, they copied it too. When they got it right, they would break out in proud squeals, even making Ink smile brighter, clapping along. After some games with different shapes, he handed Paper a fox plush. Paperjam latched onto it right away sucking on and trying to hold its ear happily distracted.

Ink was left to start cleaning up his mess, that was his whole house. He made himself an apron and cleaning supplies and started with the papers. After he cleaned up the living room floor, he put Paperjam and their new toys in the pen. With them secured, he got to work cleaning the rest of the house. Running back and forth from room to room, Ink would end up cleaning the same thing twice if not more.

Paperjam would giggle when Ink ran by to grab something he forgot, or to wipe down the kitchen bench again. After a long day of cleaning the house till it was squeaky clean, Ink was exhausted. Spring cleaning was tougher than he thought. Lugging himself downstairs, he watched Paperjam curled up asleep on the star pillow he made. With a relaxed huff, he sat on the couch and wrote a note for himself. ‘Find Error tomorrow and remember they’re named Paperjam!’ Error probably just needed some time. So that means he might be in the Anti-void tomorrow!

Note now made on his scarf, he picked up Paperjam and made his way to his bedroom where a newly made crib sat. He sat Paperjam inside and walked out to do his rounds. He checks on the poor Sans he had dropped the can on and checked up on everything else. Underswap was doing well, Outertale was pretty as ever and Mettatale was just as bizarre as normal. It was almost depressing that everything was going smoothly

Ink spent his free time in the Doodle-sphere thinking. He doodled different toy ideas for Paperjam while thinking of how he was going to tell Error. He knew this wasn’t a band-aid he could rip off quickly. Error would freak like before if he didn’t explain this right. He wasn’t the one for new things after all.

Ink stared off at the papers around, and relaxed, feeling the dose of yellow paint from earlier begin to fade giving Ink a calm sense of joy. The calm was nice when in the Doodle-sphere, but his mind had quickly followed back to Paperjam.

A creature made outside all timelines, without a story to follow but one to create. There was no telling what that child could become or what their powers could be, and Ink was going to help them create their own future. Something about that sent excited chills down his spine as he returned home to retrieve the sleeping Paperjam. Finally, he had the guts to go find Error and try to let Paperjam have both parents in their life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> all character owners so far have been put into chapter one! 
> 
> spilled ink (referenced) belongs to gorenoemi336  
> (correct me if I'm wrong)


	3. Bitter Truth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With Paperjam ready to go, Ink goes looking for Error to try to make them some kind of family give Paperjam the right to a happy life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> little late but that was due to technical issues and please keep commenting they bring such a big smile to my face.

‘Where would one look for Error Sans?’ Ink pondered to himself, standing in the Anti-void with Paperjam wrapped up snug in a blanket with one arm. He wasn’t here, which was strange- he lived here after all. Maybe he’s out with Nightmares’ gang? No.. Error and Nightmare have never gotten along. Maybe Ink should just check the usual places again? This was getting ridiculous; it was starting to feel like a game of cat and mouse trying to hunt Error down.

Scouting through Candytale as best he could, no sign of the huffy skeleton was anywhere. Even the chocolate trees, Errors’ favorite candy here, was rather fruitful showing no signs of the hungry out code in days. Pulling Paperjam a bit closer, the two of them walked along the icy colourful cliffs. Watching the happy people of the pastel pink Snowdin go about their lives.

Ink had to take his time traveling to not disturb the sleeping baby. He didn’t want them melting to goo again, it was rather frustrating to try and carry. Not to mention, it was almost impossible to carry Broomie and Jammy at the same time. With a frustrated sigh, he watched the honey-bunnies and frosting-wolves work while rock candy and gummy kids played. Candytale was also one of Inks’ favorite Au’s. A bright and colourful world that was completely edible, what was there to hate?

Sitting in the berry flavored magenta snow, Ink watched the townspeople mindlessly, till something ingenious caught his colourful eyes. The Innkeeper had just walked out from her shop to go to Grillby’s, a Burnt caramel fire monster. With her was her small kid, no older than 3, tied to her back with nothing but a secure cloth. Some of these Au’s were pure genius sometimes. Ink had to try that!

With PJ asleep in his lap, he used the blanket to make an easy sling simply by connecting the two ends and hooking it over his shoulder opposite to the paints laid. Placing Paperjam inside, they seemed snug after a little bit of sleepy wiggling. It felt amazing to be able to move more freely again. Though he still had to support Paper when he started moving, it allowed for more mobility and less chance to drop them.

Picking up Broomie, Ink painted himself a portal and stepped through, now heading to Outertale. With one arm under Pj, he ran about, scouting the floating asteroids for Error. He normally wasn’t that hard to find and yet still, no luck. Taking a stop to breathe, he stared at the Nebula above him and sighed. It was like a beautiful cloud of greens and yellows, clashing against the deep blues of space with stars sprinkled throughout. It was truly a beautiful sight to behold.

“I’m sure you will love it here Jammy.” He smiled looking at the child wrapped up snugly, not really expecting any sort of reply, though it was nice to have someone to talk to. “I really don’t think Error was even here. Well, we should try Underfell next, shall we?” He didn’t even look before making a pool of paint to jump through and dropped into the dark caverns of Underfell.

Underfell was a dark and grim, dust tinted world. The red crystals above stained by the dust of other monsters, dimming the cavern more. The place alone was enough to give anyone allergies. Standing up on the same cliff where he watched Candytale, Ink let his gaze follow to the bottom of this cliff where piles of dust sat, instead of snow-mellow the previously visited world.

“What are you doing here?” Error hissed sitting in a tree behind Ink eating a stolen chocolate bar. Watching the protector with his usual annoyance, his 8 tongues reached out to snap off a square.

“ERROR! There you are!” Ink ran over smiling up at the skeleton as he ran to stand under the tree, looking right up at him as Error stared down. He had an excited buzzing as he had all sorts of things to say, and questions to ask.

“So I’ve heard.” Errors’ tone sounded a bit aggressive, staring at Ink with a raised brow. “What do you want?” He tried to cut right to the point, speaking with his mouthful.

Ink instantly avoided the main point of the question. “Well, you ran off so suddenly a few days ago when sneezed. I was kinda worried if you had glitched yourself out of existence.” With a snicker, Ink sat in the snow under Error, not bothered by the chocolate crumbs that fell on him.

“Since when do you worry about anything?” Error asked in a dull tone before opening his mouth, swallowing the bar whole and spat the wrapper on Inks’ head; it didn’t really bother the protector much anyways. Error was fully aware of Inks’ missing soul. He had known for a long time now. Though he wouldn’t lie, it is interesting from a scientific standpoint.

“Ok, ok, no small talk. Just come down, I want to show you something, grumpy bones.” Ink brushed the wrapper off and stood up, watching Error jump out of the tree dropping to the ground, kicking up the dust that coated the snow around them. The dust lifted back up into the air making Ink cough. Error stepped back with the same fear from the sneeze in the Anti-void. He clearly wasn’t going to run so he shifted his fear back into aggression.

“What are you, a germaphobe too, now?” Ink joked, calming his coughing fit down and took a deep breath in to stop the winded feeling. He thought his cold was getting better too, what a shame.

“What’s in the rag?” It wasn’t hard to assume that was the surprise. The yellow blanket wrapped around Inks’ body was a pretty big stand out. Error took a long step back keeping a safe distance from Ink flinching when the guardians face lit up even more at the question.

“Well, when I was looking for you the day after you ran off, I found this in the Anti-void!” Ink forgot all about taking it slow for Error and pulled out the sleeping Paperjam right out from the sling holding the baby right in Errors’ face.

Error instantly crashed, staring right at the sleeping child. He stood there still slowly Rebooting with nothing but slow stuttered muttering, making Ink snicker softly to himself. “I named them Paperjam, pretty clever huh?” With no real reply, not even a mutter, Ink sighed and watched the Reboot loading bar. The smile never left his face as he shifted foot to foot in the snow pulling Paperjam to his chest again holding them in both arms.

Once Error finished rebooting, he sprung back to life and not even needing a second to regain himself he blurted out his answer. “K I L L. I T.” He glared down at Ink eyes swirling with all sorts of emotions that the white skeleton couldn’t even begin to understand. Taking a step closer, Ink stepped back wary of Errors’ newfound aggression as things started to turn for the worst.

“What, no! Error, can’t you see what this is!? It’s a creature made outside of a universe! No story to follow, no creator to make them a certain way, they could be whatever they wanted whenever they wanted. Isn’t it amazing?!” Ink held Paperjam up again, though this time keeping them out of Errors’ face. Error watched Paperjam stir awake from all the moving and yelling. Let me tell you, waking up to see nothing but an angry, scary skeleton that is clearly out for your blood was not the best way to start your afternoon. Paperjam was terrified, breaking out in an ear-piercing scream and continued to wail and fuss, trying to get away from Error, knowing fully well enough he was no good.

“Shit- hey, hey, you’re ok Paper.” Cursing, Ink pulled the wailing Paperjam close to his chest, whispering soft comforts to attempt to make him stop. He was interrupted when Errors’ shadow loomed above him. Ink finally looked up again, staring at Error who looked ready to rip Inks’ skull off his body from all the noise.

However, Error still tried to use reason. “It’s an out-code Ink. You get rid of them, remember?” Error hissed talking over Paperjam taking another step close and Ink stepped back. Error’s extra height allowing him to loom over both of them.

“I get rid of out-codes that try to hurt, damage, change or alter timelines and Au. It’s a baby, Error, it can’t do anything like that. They can barely hold his form together yet.” Paperjam was turning into goo in Inks’ arms and had to be placed back in the sling while they talked.

“Who knows how powerful that… THING could be?!” Error protested, his eyes getting distorted with error signs blocking his vision, only working to stress him out even more.

“I know, Isn’t it exciting, Error!?” Ink continued to smile brightly, not really phased by all the anger and murder around him. It’s not like he could be.

“You’re fucking insane. We don’t know where it came from, how it was made, and why it is here Ink. It’s dangerous!” Error protested, trying to give every reason as he had, but he knew the skeletons; stubbornness all too well.

“Then we can find out together! You and me. We can figure this out.” Ink insisted, with the same determined smile from when he asked to see Errors strings those days back.

Error stood, frozen in disgust, watching Ink and the shifting sling. He let out a frustrated growl, loops of string coming from his eyes. “You’re breaking the truce, Ink.” Error informed, though his voice was soft along completely clean of distortion he looked ready to burst. No longer trying to control himself. Starting to walk over, Ink stepped back every time Error looming over him.

“Error I don’t know what you mean, I-” Ink, however, was cut off before he could ask any more.

“You created that thing. I know you did, so I should be able to destroy it in return. That was our deal. A creation for destruction.” Error placed his hands over his eyes in pure frustration that he still had to explain the basics to Inks’ goldfish brain.

“It’s a child, Error!” Ink stared up at the black skeleton. Not even the yellow paint could stop Ink from realizing the amount of danger Paperjam was in right now.

“It's an abomination! And an anomaly and it deserves to be erased!” Error pulled the strings from his eyes, showing off just how frustrated and angry this whole conversation got Error. He had Ink pinned- one more step back, and he would fall off the icy cliffs they stood on.

“It’s a living, breathing person! It deserves to live!” Ink took a deep breath, holding Paperjam close to his chest, muffling the cries that came from them. “I will protect them from you, Error. I won’t let you hurt them, you can count on it.”

With that, Ink flashed Error a normal cheeky grin before staring him in the eye and jumping. Falling from the cliff, he pressed Paperjam close, hoping he didn’t spill out. With his free hand, he pulled his paintbrush from his back and with all his body force, splatted a portal for them to fall into. The force of the swing rolled them around, Ink now falling back first so Paperjam couldn’t get hurt from the impact. Curling around Paperjam, the portal opened, slamming Ink into the wall of his house. His skull taking direct damage with a loud crack, they fell to the ground.

They now sat in Inks’ broken timeline, outside on the warm fake snow. Glancing down at Paperjam who still cried out in fear, Ink took off the sling and let Paperjam fall into a puddle between his legs. After a moment to muster up some strength to speak, “Don’t be afraid.” He said in a calm voice, reaching a hand into the puddle, taking the hidden onesie that was hidden within it. He reached his hand in taking out Paperjams’ slime body, followed by weakly materializing in the clothing. He looked like melted ice cream. Paper calmed down enough to look at Ink with sobs.

“Don’t be afraid. It’s going to be ok Paperjam… We’re going home…”

The soft words were enough to soothe Paperjam, who started reaching for Ink, crocodile tears in their eyes. Ink couldn’t help but laugh, holding Paperjam close as he sat there for a while. He felt dizzy and sick, he wouldn’t dare stand, knowing it would probably cause him to pass out. While he slowly lost blood, he continued rubbing Paperjams’ back soothing him.

Ink couldn’t help but think of what just happened and how stupid it was to think Error would actually agree with him- it was Error after all. Knowing Error’s stubbornness and aggression, he shouldn’t be surprised that the result of the conversation was Error looking ready to kill Paperjam.

The thought scared him, but it was a harsh reality of his life now. It would be too dangerous to take Paper anywhere for now. Hell, it would be best if no one knew about Paperjam at all. Error really was right, there were far too many possibilities of what could happen with Paperjams’ life and powers. What would happen if Nightmares’ gang figured out how to create kids like this? Who knows what he would do with them? It was far too risky for the multiverse. No one should know the secret of Paperjam. Not till Ink figured out how Paperjam was made.

‘You made it, I know it.’ Something about how Error said that. He sounded so confident like he had watched Ink create them with his own two eyes. Error did have the better memory out of the two of them, but creating a life? It was impossible for Ink to even create. The only thing close to a life Ink has been able to recreate were Gaster blasters and even they weren’t technically living.

Lost in thought, he almost didn’t realize Paperjam had calmed down now staring completely put together again. He babbled up at Ink lightly hitting him staring up at him with a whimper. The ink on his head changed shape, from stars to squares, anything Paperjam remembered. He was trying everything he knew so far to get Inks’ attention or a reaction from him.

Ink looked down at him staring almost soullessly, watching Paperjams’ left yellow iris change shape from a tear to a star smiling at Ink with a little happy squeal. They were just happy to get a reaction from Ink again. Letting out a pleased little smile, he lifted Paperjam up to his shoulder. Pressing his back to the wall, he slid himself up, using the house for stabilization to walk to the door. His vision was blurred but a concussion was hardly anything new. “I guess you’re going to be my little secret, Paper.” He rubbed the little skeletons’ head, closing his door off to the world that may hurt them.


	4. Restless Worries

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After trying to raise Paperjam alone for 2 years Ink is left burnt out and exhausted. Others are beginning to notice and some close friends starting to take action.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait there were some technical difficulties and school struggles! but me and my editor are now back on track and ready to go!

Ink had been acting strange for a year or two now. He would show up to gatherings or meetings looking like the walking dead. He would get snappy even when he wasn't using red paint, and ignored people many times. He has even forgotten to drink his vials for days straight. Dream and Blue normally loved organizing movie nights or hangouts, but Ink would shoot them down or if he did come, he just passed out from exhaustion leaving Dream and Blue concerned for the soulless skeleton.

Dream just figured it was from Error. Ink had informed that the truce was off for ‘complicated reasons,’ Dream didn’t push it, but this was getting ridiculous. Nightmare has been crawling around more passive worlds, starting small waves of trouble, and Ink has gone missing for days on end and just showing up like nothing happened. After a lot of holding off and second thoughts, Dream had enough. All this was doing was leaving him sick and worried. He decided he was going to have to get to the bottom of this.

He decided to start keeping a log, for weeks he would use this to note down any unusual behavior. First, Inks’ unusual patterns of disappearing, avoiding hangouts, and passing out on Blue’s couch. This didn’t help, there were a lot of open ends to what this still could be. It could always be exhaustion from work, or Ink dealing with burnout. But this didn’t reassure Dream at all, something didn’t click.

So, today he dug deeper. He actively went after Ink, not in a bad way of course! He just hid in the doodle sphere and watched where Ink left too. And Dream was surprised at his first result. Kinderswap. Why in the name of apples would Ink go there? But Dream noted it down in his little book before following as well.

There were no negative emotions anywhere, besides the usual tantrums and struggling adults. There were no signs of distress or trouble. Not even Nightmare was slithering around, but Ink sat there. On the castle roof staring, watching the king and queen care for a 3-year-old Asriel with soulless white eyes. Whatever was going on in that skeleton's head, it worried him.

“You should rest.” Dream spoke upcoming to sit by the lonely skeleton. Ink made room and they sat on the roof watching the people of kinder swap live their lives in the recently founded new home. They sat there in silence, it wasn’t uncomfortable, but it was thick, they both could feel it even if Ink was almost emotionless.

“I already have” Ink’s protest was almost silent as he stared down at the little people. He knew arguing with Dream was almost impossible sometimes.

Dream could feel his bones start to boil but he remained calm giving out nothing but a sigh and turned his body to Ink. “My friend, please, you need some rest, why not stay at Blue’s for a while and sleep? I’m sure I can handle your job while you relax.” Dream spoke in a soft voice, fiddling with his cape as he tried to coax Ink into the idea.

“Heh… you know his brother won’t allow me to do that. He kicks me every time I try to sleep.” Ink rolled his eyes, showing no interest in the idea. He tucked his knees into his chest tighter, already starting to fall asleep on them.

“Then we will make him! Ink, please, you need to rest. I know you don’t have a soul, but you seem to get so weird and snappy around Error when I watch you two fight. And don’t act like I didn’t notice you almost yell at Blue when he tripped over you on our picnic. You didn’t even drink any red paint.” Dream explained standing up as Ink curled up in guilt. He did feel pretty bad at snapping at almost snapping at Blue that day.

“So you can either come willingly, or I’ll drag you there myself.” Dream put his hands on his hips no longer pretending to be soft and gentle, he was not a Sans to be pushed around. Ink had fallen asleep right there in a small tuckered-out ball letting out a soft snore, Dream groaned out face calming and shaking his head, this was going to be a long day. Grabbing Ink by the scarf he dragged the passed-out skeleton through the portal into the cheerful universe that was Underswap. Well, as cheerful as this Au gets.

Ink and Dream were well-known visitors to the Au, though It was only the brother’s that knew of them. Dream dragged Ink into the lounge room where the unique aroma of tacos and tobacco filled Dreams’ nostrils. Even though Dream wasn’t a smoker the familiar scent of the house did nothing but relax his body.

“Evening, Dream?” Papyrus greeted from one open eye, his body was big enough to take up the whole couch as he stayed slightly curled in his hoodie watching Ink with precision.

“Oh, good evening Papyrus. Sorry for the late visit. Ink needs some Blue TLC.” Dream explained quickly leaving Ink on the scratchy old carpet who was dragged face in the ground, yet still asleep. That was even impressive to even Papyrus. He woke up pretty quickly after being dragged by his smaller brother, that was the first key point something was up. Papyrus sat up pulling Ink onto the couch using his legs to pin him down. He leaned back into the couch to fall back to sleep. He listened to the small skeletons in the kitchen whispering plotting against Ink in their usual innocent ways. This was going to be an interesting evening.

After 15 minutes the two burst out of the kitchen holding two plates each of their famous ‘star sans Tacos. “Ta-da!” They cheered, their volume even made Papyrus flinch as Ink shot awake screaming along with them for a different reason while being held down but Papyrus’s legs.

Ink stared at the two who smiled proudly, chest puffed out marching over towards both the sleepy skeleton’s and held out a plate for each of them. “For you lazy bones!” They said it in sync, making Papyrus chuckle knowing they must have rehearsed this at some point. Each plate had two of Blues famous tacos though now the meat had a lot of edible glitter mixed in and star sprinkles on top one of the ‘star sans specials’. Both Papyrus and Ink had to prepare their taste-buds.

“I should really be going, sorry for the trouble really” Ink tried to sit up but his bones were weak from mental exhaustion. Even trying to push Papyrus off felt impossible to him, and the tall skeleton wasn’t even trying to hold him down.

“That’s just sad buddy.” Papyrus half teased but was also curious about what really has got the energetic paint skeleton so weak. Ink looked at him, he was also clearly low of paint as he stared at Papyrus with a cold look that even made him shiver. Plain white eyes with a dark glare, his eye lights no longer held emotion in them; it was almost freaky for Papyrus to see, it was like a completely different skeleton.

“Ink please, just for a few hours you can rest up here? I’ll keep on patrol I promise.” Dream reassured him, holding out Inks’ plate of glitter-filled tacos closer to the skeleton's face. Ink normally loved the glitter-filled mince.

Blue nodded poking out from behind him “Dream is right Ink, you need a good night’s rest. You’re burnt out and need lots of sleep. Just eat up for now alright.” Blue and Dream had never seen Ink so destroyed and hollow. It looked like someone sucked all the life and energy out of him. This was worse than the time Ink had art block for sure.

Ink turned to them with the same blank look no longer glaring however. His logic knew that they were not a threat. The two bundles of light smiled brighter than ever, not phased by the cold look that made Papyrus’ bones chitter. After a moment of silence, Ink weighs up his options logically. He took one of the tacos and ate silently without making an issue of it. The two skeletons were ecstatic and cheered as if they had beaten Papyrus at Mega masher together.

Papyrus chuckled at their celebration taking the plate given to him before they dropped it. Not bad, with Dream in the kitchen Blue really improves. Mainly because he would cry if Blue started punching the fruits like Alphys had taught him. He would also get blue to take his time and be gentle, no complaints here.

The two balls of joy sat at Inks’ feet asking him a wide range of simple questions with basic answers to keep Ink awake and tempt his logic into drinking the paints. Ink never liked to drink his paints when others wanted him to, he claimed it made him feel like a puppet when he did. They asked questions like, ‘what’s your favorite colour?’ What’s your favorite thing to draw?’ ‘favorite fruit?’ ‘favorite candy?’ flowed through the conversation seamlessly. Ink had answered these questions many times before, but they knew he wouldn’t remember.

“I like yellow, I like drawing different AU’s, I like dragon fruit, and skittles are the best.” He answered between bites. After he finished his first taco he finally took a sip of the yellow vial. Joy and excitement washed over him, his eye lights flooded with colour and shapes. A sun and a star, just enough paint to entertain the two.

“Favorite board game?” “favorite drink?” they asked, eating their own dinner watching Ink like excited children as Blue sat close to Dream sharing the yellow cape.

“Oh, oh! I really love the one, what is it called? Where you build that really big contraption and you roll the dice and.” Ink rambled on and on trying to describe the board game. He went to extreme details on what it looked like but couldn’t remember the name. The three of them ate happily as all the talking was enough to scare Papyrus into his room with his food. The two got working on getting Ink a spare pillow and blanket to settle in for the night. When they came back with the pillow and blanket, Blue giggled. Ink still hadn’t finished trying to describe the board game. Now he was talking about all the coloured pieces and pigments, even mentioning which one was his favorite.

“Do you mean the game Mouse trap?” They knew what he was talking about the whole time, Blue even had the game and everything. They just needed to distract him while they got him some stuff to sleep.

“Yeah! Yeah! That’s the one, can we play that?” Successful, they got Ink to forget all about his problems and relax. With that however Inks’ mind completely forgot about Paperjam waiting at home.

The three of them sat on the floor playing Mouse trap and other colourful games keeping Ink entertained. They talked and joked, Dream talked about the world he had seen and struggles he had. and Blue gave him advice, he was knowledgeable when it came to the multiverse after all. They stayed up chatting till poor Ink passed out on the clue board before Blue could guess who the killer was, Dream was the murderer he just knew it!

With a snicker and giggled, they lifted Ink up into the couch and tucked the skeleton in for the night. Blue let out a hearty yawn and sighed rubbing his eye. “I’ll check on Ink in the morning,” Blue promised. cleaning up the board game and putting the stack back under the stairs.

Dream nodded, helping him clean up plates and the other messes they made. He turned off the Tv and the living room light, watching Blue make his way to bed. Now only the kitchen was lit, and the dishes were left. “Alright then I’ll start doing Inks’ patrol, you take good care of him while I’m gone.” Dream waved Blue off into his room and sighed out once the door shut. With a glance at Ink who slept nice and happily. Dream stared at Ink for a moment “You’re hiding something. You and Error both.” These secrets were leaving a bitter taste in his mouth.

Dream wandered the house cleaning up, putting the dishes in the sink and turning the light’s off. Even going as far as taking Inks’ brush off him to sleep better. With the last of the chores done, he opened his portal and stepped through leaving the dark house for the new day.

Dream needed to get to the bottom of all these secrets. It was damaging Inks’ health greatly, and he hated to see his friend like this. Dream went from world to world as best he could looking for anything abnormal or negative energy. But to Dream this felt like a casual interdimensional stroll.

That changed when he entered Racetale. A universe where instead of fighting, people raced each other. Some drove, some rode but it was all about speed. It was one of those weird worlds no one really visited but was always good fun when you did.

Things felt off, not negative, just strange, Nightmare had arrived. Dream stopped in his tracks and looked around. He was standing under the stands as Undyne raced the human around the dirt bike track of Bikerfall. Dream stood still looking around under the shadow of the crowds. “Brother.” Was all Dream needed to say before Nightmare materialized from the black seeping ooze.

Nightmares’ presence almost seemed to loom over Dream as he stood tall three tentacles up over his head waving relaxed through still ready if needed. “Something on your mind?” he hummed, his brother didn’t call without a reason after all. Sure he didn’t care for Dream, but his brother always gave him some good multiverse gossip. No matter how childish.

Dream shifted from foot to foot unsure but took a deep breath coming to his own conclusion. “Ink’s hiding something from us. Error seems to know about it too, and I can’t figure out what. Have you been in contact with Error at all?” Dream kept his back straight, arms folded and eyes on Nightmare, not letting his guard down one bit. The noise around them of the crowds' cheers and cries were nothing but white sound to the tense air around brother’s.

“I don’t keep track of those out-code rats like him.” Nightmare hissed softly, offended Dream would think such a thing. But he shifted, he used a hand to scratch his chin. “A mystery you say? Well, I might just have to get all buddy-buddy with him. You got me curious now.” Nightmare was silent weighing up options, outcomes, possibilities, and loose ends. All while scratching his goo covered chin.

“I think it’s been getting to Ink. When we fight Error, he starts saying strange things like. ‘You can’t hide it Ink. I’ll find you or do you really think It’s safe?” Dream even made his voice sound as deep as he could to do a bad imitation of Error.

“So, it’s an item?” Nightmare hummed attention back to Dream realizing his twin had more to say.

“Yes, that’s what I think too but that doesn’t explain Ink’s exhaustion.” Dream fiddled with his cape, explaining more of his worries.

“And Error is the last thing from a materialistic guy.” Nightmare agreed on the obscurity of this. Dream stayed silent letting his brother think. They may not know much of Error personally, but one look at the glitches’ home and it told plenty of who he was as a person.

“Well… will you help me, Brother?” Dream asked, looking at his brother with a glimmer of hope, looking for a spark of kindness that no longer existed in the bitter skeletons’ soul. Not anymore.

“No.” Nightmare said straight up with a harsh amount of brute honesty that Dream some-what expected. Dream held no real use to him information wise. Anything his brother could figure out he could do in minutes. “However, you have gotten me curious. I might have a look into it on Errors’ end.” Nightmare agreed. He made no deal, no shake, nothing, this was the end of their conversation. They wanted nothing to do with each other at the moment. Nightmare walked off as his body turned into goo, slithering into a crack in the ground leaving the universe.

Dream sighed and turned to watch the race as the commentator called out telling all views what was happening at every moment “What the!? The humans went off track! And Undyne is following!! ;)” The crowds of waterfall monster’s cheered and gasped, caught up in the excitement, that was enough to help Dream go anywhere, this pacifist timeline was off on a great track.

Dream didn’t know what he just did. Made an ally, or given the enemy more information. Dream didn’t know anymore. the fact of it was, he was getting desperate for help and couldn’t let this continue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dream and Nightmare belong to jokublog on Tumblr
> 
> Underswap has no define creator and was made by the community!
> 
> Don't forget to leave a Kudo or comment they literally make my day!


	5. A small sip

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ink quickly realizes his mistake and goes to make it up to the one he forgot with some small bonding.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> god, I am so sorry for no updates!! school has been super busy with catch up. I've still been writing I just haven't gotten round to editing any of these chapters. my holidays are starting later this week I'll try to get working promise;-;

Ink felt amazing, he must have forgotten what a good night's sleep felt like. Working all night, keeping Paper busy all day it really drains you as a skeleton. Especially now that Paperjam was three; he barely survived the terrible twos. At times like this, he really could understand why so many Sanses love to nap. Letting himself slowly awaken at his own pace, he snuggled in the slightly itchy blanket for all its warmth. Slowly peeking his eyes open, he looked in the clean lounge room taking in the sights as he slowly awoke.

“No chores.” Ink muttered cheerfully to himself, closing his eyes to get a few more minutes sleep since he had less work to do today. The house was nice and clean, no toy’s, crafts, and supplies… not even a single paint stain or cutlery, no… “SHIT!”

Ink screamed sitting up on the couch looking at the flipped around household. The realization of where he was, and just how bad this could be, ran through his bones. He rapidly pulled himself to his feet looking around, any remnants of his groggy state had been replaced by adrenalin. Ink spun around on the spot taking in his location and situation. more and more thoughts and possibilities passing through his skull like wildfire. He only knew one thing. He needed to check on Paperjam.

Ink dived for Broomie as Blue slapped his door open in a panic “Ink, what’s wrong!?” The small blue skeleton howled, scared his friend was hurt or something was happening in another AU. Ink paused for a moment staring at Blue as he stood up moving to the middle of the lounge room. He gave Blue such a strange look, almost indescribable. Inks’ face was filled with fear and sadness, but his eye-lights were pale, a light blue reticle and a crepe coloured broken heart. It stunned Blue. He knew Ink wouldn’t drink blue paint on purpose and that response felt so strange coming from Ink. He used this time to make a portal right on the carpet and left leaving nothing but a large ink puddle behind.

“Dream was right. Something really is wrong with that freaky skeleton” Papyrus muttered leaning on his door frame glaring at the large stain on the carpet. That was going to be a bitch to scrub off. As the tension in the room faded, Blue could only nod still stunned.

Ink fell right into the Doodle-Sphere looking at all the paper’s for anything off. Any sign of Nightmare or Error. He didn’t have as good of a sense as Dream. Dream by himself could feel them even before they started attacking if they were close enough. Ink glanced around the realm. Surly if Error got his hands on Paperjam he would gloat, right? He’s been trying for 3 years now, and Error isn’t beyond gloating. With a rough skim of everything, he gave it the ‘all clear’ and went home. Besides- if something came up, he has got eyes all over the multiverse. He’ll find out sooner or later.

Ink, still worried half to death, basically jumped out of the portal skidding on his butt to the doorstep. No new prints in the rainbow snow and the air smelled of fresh paint. It was going to rain again. Shaking his head, Ink remembered what was happening. To keep his mind on track, he took a tiny sip from the purple vial letting real fear rush through his body. This was different. This kind made his magic turn his adrenaline spike and each thought he had felt like weights on his chest.

He quickly pulled himself up brushing off the snow and came to the door with a knock. A strange little rhythm, a tune Dream taught it to him that just seemed to have stuck in his head; maybe Dream played a lot then. It was a silly little tune but to the little 3-year-old inside, it was an ‘all clear’ sign. Ink pulled the door open, looking around the house. It was dark, lights off and a mess everywhere, he’s been forgetting to clean for a long time and now it was starting to smell.

“Paper, I’m home.” He called out looking around but was given no response. Ink took a few steps inside and whipped his feet. “Paperjam?” He called the fear getting clearer in his voice looking around. When he turned on the light’s he was finally greeted, just got what he hoped.

“BOO!” A little ske-ink-ton squealed wearing a poorly made dragon mask over their head. Ink for better or worse, let out a terrified squeal that was a bit more feminine than he would like to admit. He fell on his ass again clutching his shirt as he sighed out realizing who it was.

“Goodness Jam-bear you scared me half to death.” He sighed flopping on his back hoping the pain in his tailbone would fade. He relaxed feeling Paperjam climb on his belly as the little devil laughed smiling at Ink through the cheaply cut out holes.

“Scary?” They asked, kicking their feet and laughing at Inks’ misery. Paperjam wore a light yellow sundress with a deep purple jacket and magenta gumboots.

“Yes Paperjam, you scared me out of my skin.” He sighed sitting up watching them slide into his lap with a plop.

“You don’t have skin” They whined out knowing where Ink was going with this dumb dad joke, but Ink continued it nevertheless.

“I don’t? oh, dear! Jamjam! I left my skin in an AU!” He whined being overdramatic as the small sip he took faded letting him relax in the toddlers’ arms.

“Noooo! you don’t have skin!” The little skeleton ran off not wanting to deal with their fathers’ weird antics again. He told that joke way too much and Ink probably knew it deep down at this point but his sons’ frustration was adorable and amusing.

Was it son today?

Ink looked over to a small sign by the couch that Paperjam could reach. It was a bit of plastic with a movable arrow where Paperjam could move it and choose. Did they want to be a boy, girl, or neither. The dial today was on girl today.

Ink smiled and set Broomie down. “What do you think, jammy? Should we finally clean this house today?” He asked, watching the pouting skel-ink-ton burst back to life smiling nodding all memory of their anger gone.

“Yes! It smells like butt’s” She laughed running over again clinging to Inks’ leg hiding between them smiling using them to swing about like a pole.

“How do you know what butts smell like?” He asked playfully picking her up, holding a firm arm under her bum as Paperjam rested their weight on Ink staying nice and close.

“Cause you’re a butt.” She grinned glancing about the room as Ink gasped as if she just insulted art itself.

Ink stared at her in over-exaggerated shock. “You watch too much tv when I’m gone” he grumbled and grabbed the cleaning supplies from under the stairs to get started.

“Maybe if we go somewhere I wouldn’t.” Jammy grumbled not liking living in the same broken world all alone so much. Ink couldn’t blame her. It did get really lonely here all by yourself. There was only so much to do in this house too. Without a change of pace or somewhere new you can run out of things to draw pretty quickly.

“Where would we go if we could go out?” He asked getting a trash bag and sat Paperjam on the cough picking up leftover food, scrap paper and destroyed toy’s from months ago; he quickly found the source of the rotten smell.

Jammy stayed where they were sitting picking things up that were in reach handing them over. “I dunno. Outertale looks super pretty and Toytale looks colorful. I wanna try the jungle gym waterfall!” Paper said eye turning to a star as she talked about all the places and worlds she’d seen on the interdimensional TV. Such excitement for other worlds would make Inks’ heart flutter if he had one.

“Well maybe we can go on a multiverse tour when you're older?” Ink offered as they started cleaning all the salvageable toys, plates, and supplies next. They continued to talk while they worked. Well he worked Paperjam just held the bag open.

“You would just forget again.” There was a bitter truth that made Ink flinch. Only 3 and she was already well aware of Inks’ memory and what it means when it comes to a lot of things. She even spoke it like common knowledge.

“How about I set a reminder in my scarf that way I never forget.” Ink offered rubbing Paperjams’ head. Paper smiled appreciating the idea though her eye was still a teardrop and knew it would probably never happen.

“That sounds great dad.” She smiled up at Ink, there was excitement and hope in her tone but she didn’t show it. Ink would need to prove he could remember first. He was getting better and they both knew it. There was a lot to work on still, however.

“Well it’s going to rain soon. How about we speed this up and I’ll finally show you what colour means what.” He offered, giving Paper a little skeleton kiss to cheer her up.

It worked wonders, her eyes lit up and she bounced to life. “I’m old enough?! I’m old enough! I’m a big kid now!” It made Ink laugh and continue cleaning while Jammy ran around like a headless chicken.

After everything was picked up in the lounge room and put where they belong. The pitter-patter of rain started to echo through the house and Paperjam squealed at the to of her metaphorical lungs. She rushed to Ink who was collecting the paint bucket to catch and store the rain. “Rain dad. Rain!!” She squealed twirling around the sun dress making Paperjam a lot rounder than she was.

“Yes I hear it, come on let’s set the bucket set up before it pours down.” He said, taking her hand. They walked out the door and sat on the stone from the porch under the cover. Ink used his foot to Push the bucket out into the snow. “Do you know what colour that is Paperjam?” He asked patting beside him watching the coloured rain begin to strain the pale blue snow.

Sitting down on the step Paperjam shuffled next to Ink. She watched the coloured rainfall. Paperjam let out a hum examining the colour closely thinking “when it falls it looks maroon. In the snow, it looks more Carmine.” She explained as Ink laughed, patting her back. Paperjam was smart that was for sure. No point asking what colour was what to her.

“The shades don’t matter when it comes to the vials Paper.” He wasn’t surprised Paperjam knew the shades so well. Paperjam loved traditional mediums like pencils, chalks, and paints. She used them, held them, and showed them to ink all the time. “And I think you can figure out what red might mean.”

“Um... determination? Passion? Love? Evil?” Paperjam looked confused, staring at the full vial that laid on Inks’ shoulder trying her best to say the words right. If Ink had it, it had to be good right?

“Anger.” Ink smiled holding it so the stare would stop. “I don’t like to drink it much since I’m not very good at controlling it. That’s why I’m never angry at you.” He held his hand out letting the paint drop land on his finger. He popped it in his mouth with a subtle pop. Paperjam watched Inks’ eye-light’s change and Ink tilted his head back screaming at the top of his lungs in pure uncontrollable anger. Each drop only lasted a few seconds and Ink calmed down with a relaxed sigh. “Wanna try a drop?” he offered back, grinning like nothing happened.

Paperjam giggled, nodded and held out her hand for a drop. Paperjam popped a finger in her mouth sucking the red paint off. It left a bitter almost painful taste in her mouth like it was pinching her mouth and burning at the same time. Then the emotion wave hit, it was overbearing. It didn’t feel like a normal tantrum. There was no hidden emotion underneath. It was just pure uncontrollable rage. Paperjam sat there frozen trembling. Her Ink body began to boil like it was overheating. It felt impossible to move. There was so much frustration going on and she didn’t know what to do.

When the emotional wave finally faded, Paperjam began to cry, wailing out in fear of what just happened. Some emotions were still too big for her little body. Ink flinched and scooped the melting Paperjam up and carried her inside, hushing her softly. “Hey, hey, it’s alright, I know it tastes bad, it's ok.” He had no idea what was wrong, he could only assume. Left without much choice, he took a tiny sip of blue paint and a swig of yellow to respond better and be able to sympathize with her.

“it's going to be alright Jam-Jam. How about you go take a nap and I’ll clean up the house?” Ink offered the blob of paint in his arms but Paperjam got fussy, not wanting to while still crying out and screaming from with Ink the melted state. Ink couldn’t understand Paperjams’ tantrums, he really wasn’t surviving the terrible threes. His house was proof.

He ignored Paperjams’ wails and screams and sat on her bed still she tired herself out and that took a lot of patience. Paperjam wiggled and screamed trying to slither away or hit Ink. She was not getting her way and was unable to communicate what was really wrong to her clueless father.

Of course, being so small and tired Paperjam fell asleep after two hours of screaming and crying. It made Ink feel exhausted. But he finally tucked Paperjam in and got up continuing to do the chores of the house like a housewife and let his mind wander.

He had to admit, it was strange that Paperjam stood still when under the red paint. Error had tried red before so he knew it worked on monsters with souls; this only left him with more curiosities about this child. But his brain soon brushed it off when he was finding missing art supplies in Paperjams’ room that he was searching for months ago. That little sneak.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> all character credits so far:  
> Ink is by comyet  
> Paperjam is by 7goodangel  
> Error is by loverofpiggies  
> Underswap is by the fandom  
> Dream is by joku


	6. Trips and travels

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ink is finally following through with a promise to PJ and boy, was it a day-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, I'm basically dead. both me and the editor. but we're trying our best here I promise just trying to work and rest... so updates are slow. comments are my motivator in these trying times...

Ink could feel Dream breathing down his neck all year. He could hardly do anything without Dream asking what was happening, and he even caught Dream spying on him as he checked out worlds Error destroyed or while he was doing other duties. It was honestly rather creepy. Not to mention, whenever he hung out with Blue, the air seemed so tense most of the year. Luckily as time went on, Dream stopped following him as much, and with the celebration of Papers’ well welcomed fourth birthday that had come and gone. Now apparently, he has to follow through with a promise he had no recollection of for PJ.

He couldn’t deny them this, not again. They have been begging to leave this world for years, and Ink figured with Dream starting to leave him alone, he might get a chance. They packed Paperjam a little travel bag and agreed on a few AU’s they could go to. “Okay, we are only going to 5 AU’s and you can only bring something small back. Got it?” Ink asked, walking in their room.

“K, dad,” Paperjam said, shoving their stuffed fox inside their bag. They wore a bright outfit with a pink t-shirt. A light blue skirt, some deep purple leggings, and pink sneakers. As well as their new favorite article of clothing. A matching scarf to Ink’s that was pale brown that almost looked yellow. It was a gift for their fourth birthday since Paperjam had been stealing his scarf more than once.

“Spare clothes?” Ink asked, running through the checklist he had.

“Yep.” With a cute little pop of the P, they pulled on their bag.

“Extra paint?” in case Paperjam got low. Or got hurt.

“Mhm.” Paper moved their hands to their hips.

“Lunch?” In case they were hungry.

“You made it.” Paperjam turned to Ink looking a little annoyed but smiled feeling proud of themselves.

“Toys?” He knew Paperjam liked carrying some toys with them.

“You just saw me put Fifi in,” Paperjam whined, taking the list away from him, reading it. “And yes, I have a spare medical kit. Now let’s go!!” Paperjam whined the orange and purple bag on their back shook as they bounced around, desperate to leave. Ink laughed, walking with them downstairs.

“Alright, alright. So where are we going first?” Ink asked as they walked outside, not minding the mess of doodles papers and puddles of paint from both of them. The unfinished townsfolks were still standing about messy and unfinished in the middle of the street. They both paid no mind to them and looked at each other. Paperjam seemed to think on this question a moment.

“Farmmertale!” Paperjam smiled, pointing up at Ink as he painted them a portal to the doodle-sphere. Ink held their hand as they stepped through into the floating realm of splatters of portals.

“Why would you want to go there, of all places?” Ink asked, putting PJ on his shoulders and looked for the world in the floating realm.

“I wanna run in the fields and meet the animals.” Paperjam could no longer contain their excitement as they wiggled and looked around at all the different worlds, with gasps and awe, pointing at each, naming the ones they knew. They were basically vibrating on Inks’ shoulders as they found the spatter to the nice and peaceful Farmmertale world.

“Okay okay, I’ll admit, it’s pretty there, but do you remember the number one rule?” Ink asked as he looked up at them. It was always smart to make sure. Luckily, memory issues didn’t run in the family.

Paper took in a deep breath, puffing out their chest “Absolutely no being seen by people.” Paper faked a big strong man voice as Ink burst out laughing and took them through the portal.

They came out from the sprinklers, far off from the house in Asgore’s flower farm. Rows and rows of tulips of all sorts of colours filled Paperjams’ eyes. They squealed as loud as they could, running around, jumping over rows of flowers, racing up and down the rows of daisies. Never in their life had Paperjam ever seen so much space and bright colours.

Ink sat down in the dirt pulling out a sketchbook and a pack of oil pastels and started drawing Paperjam, who was chasing bugs and catching critters being loud and freed a new light had been placed on Paperjam, and it only made Ink feel proud. After he got a good drawing, (and after Paperjam had almost cried after tripping over and skidding their knee), they decided to leave.

The bandaids really did come in handy. They didn’t work on Paperjam’s ink-like body, but it made them think it was better enough to heal themselves with a bottle of extra paint.

Next on the list was Kindertale. They didn’t spend too long there, not at all. They went right up to the new home where Paperjam could pick out a new toy or two for their late birthday gifts. They settled for a trick puzzle that they stood in the store trying to solve for ten minutes and a rubber ball. Ink was not looking forward to the wreckage that ball was going to cause.

With the Toys in Paper’s bag with Fifi the fox protecting them, they left for Toytale. A world that would be seen in any child’s dreams. They ate a nice healthy lunch and played on all the equipment in Waterfall. They had a very intense game of tag, along with hide-and-seek. And Ink swore that Paperjam was cheating somehow. He even got stuck trying to crawl through the tubes sometimes, so Ink wanted to leave soon.

Before Paperjam got too excited, they went to Candytale, grabbing all sorts of different sweets and goodies shoving thin in their bag. It was almost like Halloween again. They ran through the Snowdin woods for a bit and made a gumdrop man with pocky arms. They enjoyed their time there getting high on a sugar rush, giggling and racing each other. They decided soon after reaching Snowdin that it was time to visit their final stop. Paperjam was almost at the end of a sugar rush and Ink wanted to show them one last thing.

With Paper on his shoulders, lightly patting their skull still taking everything in the floating realm. They returned to the doodle-sphere and took their final trip. Outertale. A world well-beloved by outcodes as most of them knew their lives were stuck in the underground. The two of them stood on a lone island floating off not too far away from Waterfall. They materialized from a melted star cream puddle and Paperjam went still, staring up at the skies.

“Beautiful, isn’t it, Paper?” he asked quietly, sitting in the dirt and relaxed.

“It’s prettier than I thought.” Paperjam climbed down and sat on his lap, wrapping Inks’ arms around themselves. They sat there with a smile, and Ink pointed out fake constellations like ‘the rat keeper’ or ‘sans stacking hotdogs on his head.’ Paperjam never saw them but thought the names were hilarious.

They ended up going for a walk along the different island as Paperjam stayed in Ink’s arms, letting the change of gravity rock them to sleep in a strange but comforting way. The sugar crash really was hitting them hard. Standing up on the cliffs staring down at the towns far below, Ink sighed, letting the floating feeling relax his own body.

That feeling, however, was ripped away from him. With a sound of a loud whip crack, Paperjam flinched, before being yanked right out of his arms with blue strings.

“Has this been where you were hiding it this whole time, right under my nose?” a distorted voice cooed as Paperjam started to scream from whiplash and fear. They hung from Errors stings by the soul as their body started to go goopy from the stress.

“Error put them-“ Ink pulled out his brush, setting the small bag he carried down in the dirt that floated around him.

“Or have you been hiding in that stupid little world of yours again?” Error asked, glancing at the melting child. “The fuck? Is it broken?” Error asked, still not lowering his guard for Ink to make a smart move. The strings around Paperjams’ body only tightened more, making them squeal out again at the pain, but the melting stopped as Paperjam’s strange soul glitched.

The soul was strange- it had visible bits of code all over it that didn’t seem to fit. The soul’s colours were spirals of shades of grey and flashes of colour that quickly faded. It was like it didn’t even know what it was meant to look like. Error stared at it, his eyes curious, but the second he took a step closer, Paperjam wailed out even louder making him flinch and glitch out for a moment, till he stepped back.

“Shut up!” Error screeched, only scaring them more. But with Error’s lack of sight from his glitching, Ink used that as his chance. Leaping forward, the lack of gravity prevented him from slowing down, so he kicked Error at almost full force out into the floating plains of space. Before Ink could get to Paperjam though, they were tugged away with a hard whiplash of the blue strings.

“You’re not getting away so easily, not again!” Error hissed, using a blaster to move himself to a new island and shoot a loud distorted blast. Dodging the blast wasn’t hard, but dodging in 0 gravity was. Ink leaped off a small meteorite to follow Error in their normal cat and mouse games. This time, however, Error had something Ink wasn’t going to lose.

Standing upside down, the two didn’t even pay attention to the world around them. They used attack after attack, bones, blaster, ink and strings, anything to get the advantage. But Ink didn’t want to play today. He normally respected Errors haphephobia and used distance attacks, and let the game last longer- but today?

Ink took some of his red and purple paint while flinging himself through space, and was now pissed. He dived under a blaster shot, getting close enough to give Error a heavy right hook to the skull. It didn’t break anything, but it left him dazed and in shock since it was out of character for Ink to use hand to hand combat. Ink pinned Error down and covered him in sticky paint. Error wiggled and screamed, already starting to pull himself out. Ink cut the string that held Paperjam, and Ink watched the scared little skeleton whimper out in fear, trying to stand up and cling to Ink from trembling, with half-melted limps.

“Sorry Paper. I have one more thing to do. You need to go.” His tone was laced in anger, but Paperjam could hear the fear hidden underneath. Ink made a portal under PJ and they fell through, screaming for Ink in a pitiful cry. “Take care of yourself, PJ.” Was all Ink could say in prayer before a bone rammed right at the back of his skull.

“IIINNNNKKK!!!” Error howled in rage as Ink ran from island to island, Error following closely, after now having to fight with his glasses on. They fought on anything and on every angle. It was a miracle they didn’t get dizzy. They left an array of ink and strings that would need to be cleaned up later, but with Error taking any opportunity to disarm and attack Ink, now wasn’t the time.

After a while, they were both getting frustrated and tired. When Ink took a moment to catch his breath, Error finally pulled Broomie from his grasp, pulling it up and out of sight. “What are you gonna do now, without that paintbrush of yours?” Error growled, a blaster charging above him as he, too, was panting.

Ink slowly took out his yellow vial with a large gulp. “You know, a real skilled artist can use many mediums.” He laughed, taking out a calligraphy pen from his hoodie pocket. They grinned at each other for a moment, but Error shifted back to a growl and they started up all over again. Ink, now on defense, became a lot more playful, almost mocking Error. Paperjam was safe and he had nothing to lose now, and with yellow paint pumping through his bones, he couldn’t help himself.

But Error was still pissed, strings and blasters going left and right. Ink, who was busy making a shield for a blast, didn’t notice when a bone came flying from the side till it was almost too late. He grabbed the bone with his free hand. And it happened again. His body began to glitch and a familiar sharp jolt of pain ran through his body, sending his bones into a spasm. The pain was all too familiar, but Ink tried to keep his eyes open this time, watching his own bones pixelate and glitch, revealing code that was invisible to the naked eye.

He curled around the red sharp-tipped bone that was intended to strike his temple. He watched it break down into code, and watched his own mix and intertwine with it. The more he watched, the more the pain ran through his body like electricity. Ink screamed out, pressing his head to the ground, his voice getting lost through space. Only Error was there to watch, again. He watched the whole thing as Ink passed out, protecting the bone that had turned into nothing but pixelated white code, a white ball of glitches.

Error wanted to run, to scream, but he knew there was some sort of correlation here. Something was repeating, something was happening, and he needed to know what. He kicked Ink over onto his back and heard the skeleton groan from the glitched mess that was his body. Did he seriously look like that when he crashed? It looked horrible. With Ink flipped, he could see the glitched mass that was copying more and more code from Ink’s body each second. Error reached for the mass to examine, curious about where it came from. But the second he touched it, his infected code started getting copied as well. It felt violating and disgusting like something was crawling through his bone marrow. He jolted away, shaking his arm as if bugs had been crawling all over him. He watched the code fade away out of his vision back to its normal glitches and text. Once the feeling faded and the danger was gone, Error shivered at the feeling of his body freaking out as he tried to calm himself, watching the mass that was now covered in small error signs. With a distorted sigh, he fled the scene again to try to calm himself down of this violating burn on his arm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ink belongs to comyet  
> Paperjam belongs to 7goodangel  
> Error belongs to lover of piggies  
> Dream belongs to joku  
> all other AU's were made up on the spot (if they have creators tell me!)

**Author's Note:**

> Error belongs to loverofpiggies on Tumblr
> 
> Ink belongs to myebi / comyet on Tumblr
> 
> Paperjam belongs to 7goodangel on Tumblr
> 
> I'm going to be sticking to Tumblr for owners cause I don't use Twitter.


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